Friday, May 20, 2011

Post surgery update

So, I am 3 days post-surgery and today am feeling a bit better finally. Honestly, I feel a bit out of practice from surgeries, as this time the pain and healing after has surprised me at how rough it is! Maybe its because I am older, or maybe its because I have 3 kids to take care of now (one of them a baby), but its been hard. I am praying I am on a downward incline from this point out but who knows really.

Tuesday morning rolled around bright and early, as we had to be out of the house by 5:40 am. We got to the hospital and I registered and submitted all my medical paperwork, then went up to the 5th floor for same-day surgery. They did the usual stuff, then took me back. I admit I did freak out briefly when they put the mask over my face to put me under. I am claustrophobic and for some reason it hit me hard this time. They told me to lay back and they put this band around the top of my head (to strap me down) and then the anesthesiologist put the mask over my face and I lost it, I started to cry and panic big time. Then I saw one of my doctors come up and hold my hand, and then I felt better seeing a face I recognized. Next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery.

They said all had gone well. My doctor was pleasantly surprised to see how much bone I had in there when they opened up the area. I am so happy for that, as we worked SO hard for it (multiple bone grafts later, grrr), so that was a big plus. They didnt need to take a bone graft from the roof of my mouth, which made me so happy to only have ONE surgical site to worry about. They did have to debride the area (remove old dead tissue from previous surgeries) and then they placed a small metal plate that screwed into the bone to try to stabilize that area better. Admittedly I am still freaking because there is a lot of movement in there from the teeth still, but they said its probably because its my old acrylic denture and not the permanent one, and hopefully the permanent teeth will fit better after all of this mess. I have to say I do worry that maybe this didnt work, but they JUST did the surgery, so I still have some hope that it will all work out in the end. All I can do is pray that this was a good fix, and that my body heals the way its supposed to.

Post surgery has sucked a bit. My lips hurt really badly from being stretched open for so long, so they got incredibly chapped and cracked and painful and still are. Its almost as painful as the actual surgical site. The skin is peeling off them like crazy and I have a lot of "dead" skin which has turned brown around my mouth that I have been trying to get off a little each day. I am SO hungry too, and at times feel so starving I get cranky and irritable. I still cant open my mouth wide enough to fit a spoon in there, so all soup and stuff has to be basically eaten off the tip of a spoon, and I am sooooooo sick of liquids. My diet consists of Ensure, water, coffee, tea, ice cream, and different kinds of pureed soups. Thats it. And, there is a lot of pain still so after I eat I hurt for a while. My right cheek is the worst with swelling, although today it was down quite a bit, but it has swollen so far inwards that its pressing up against the denture and my inside of my cheek is FILLED with canker sores from the pressure of it. Its like one big canker sore! I am just so ready for the swelling to go down in there.

I had to quit taking my Vicodin because it was....leading to other issues lol. So I am taking the 800 mg Motrin they gave me from the procedure before this. It works, but doesnt take the pain away completely, and near the end for the last hour before I can take it again I am in SO much pain. Last night I just wanted to cry, and ended up taking it an hour earlier than I was supposed to. I think I may have iced the area a bit too long last night before bed or something, because it was just all of a sudden I was in a TON of pain after icing it. So, yeah, Motrin isnt exactly cutting the mustard for pain relief, but I am praying I am nearing the end of the bad pain period, and then it should work just fine.

Finally, I seem to have caught my son's cold so I have a stuffed up nose and a cough. I knew I would, as I had a tickly throat before surgery, and when I started taking the antibiotics I knew I'd get it, as I always get sick either during or after taking antibiotics. The coughing is awesome, since it loosens up blood every time I have a bad coughing fit. Ugh. And, when I feel a cough coming on I cant just COUGH, I have to, like, control the cough because it hurts so bad, so it goes on and on and on, if that makes sense. It sucks big time! Praying it passes soon too.

So, that's my sob story for now! Please pray for continued healing, and that I manage to evade an infection this time around. The worry of that consumes me, so I will be so glad when I am healed in there.

G'day Tina....so glad I happened upon your Blog, and sending you heaps of healing prayers!!!BTW...hubby was diagnosed a couple of months ago and facing surgery but absolutely terrified! Have signed-up with Yahoo group for further support...cheers!